


Exvulsion

by TVBS



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - NieR, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2016-01-18
Packaged: 2018-05-04 00:53:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5313881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVBS/pseuds/TVBS
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Things that are precious, and things that are not. Things that mustn’t break, and things that may. Tell me… Who has the right to decide such things?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pulchregeist

**Author's Note:**

> If you don't know what NieR is, please please _please_ either pick it up for the PS3 or XBox 360 or read [this.](http://lparchive.org/NIER/) NieR is my favorite game of all times. I'm mostly using a setting much like NieR with the shades for this. And if you know anything about Kaine, you recognize how I'm treating Michael.
> 
> I was also highly influenced by Two's prologue in Drakengard 3, as the summary shows. Most specifically her final mission. I don't recommend playing Drakengard 3 as I rage quit when I died against undead gigantes because the framerate dropped to single digits, but I do recommend finding an LP to watch because it needs to be seen to be believed. Especially Two's prologue.
> 
> I am Drakenier trash, is that obvious?

Pain cracked through Michael as he hit the tree. Fuck. He made a rookie mistake. Out here, it was death to underestimate anything. Usually, this job was so easy it didn’t take much, but one slip-up and it could easily mean death. Michael shook his head as he rose to his feet, raising his sword again. He had a job to do, damn it. One quick step and slice, and his prey fell to the ground.

Fucking _sheep._ Good thing their meat was going to go for a lot. Michael pulled out his knife and started to skin it, putting that in his pouch as well. Someone would want that, and it would be great not to have to come back out here just for some wool. He started carving off chunks of meat, carefully wrapping it up and putting it in away. That would make ten, which was what the woman asked for. A thousand gold was nothing to sneeze at. Michael secured his pouch and started back to Rooster Teeth City, pushing the hood back from his face. It was relieving that the sun was out, but fucking hot otherwise. Of course, if he would stop wearing his animal skins, he’d be a lot cooler, but what was the fun in that? Plus, the skins gave him an extra layer of protection from the back. No way he was getting rid of them.

The guards at the city gates just nodded at him as he entered. They all knew him by now. Michael, the wanderer. Taker on of small odd jobs to kill shit. As long as he didn’t spend too much time in town, they all welcomed him in. By now, even the small children didn’t stare at him, though the older folks still did whisper among themselves. It didn’t matter, though. Let them whisper. Who else would go get their meat for them if he wasn’t there? That’s what he thought.

”Michael!” The blonde woman perked up as he came near. “Nice to see you again.”

He grunted, pulling out the ten grisly packages. “Sheep meat, just as you asked.”

She beamed as she took them. “Great. This will make a fantastic stew. Hey, you have anywhere to eat tonight? This is enough to feed three.”

Her, her boyfriend, and him. He smiled at that, about ready to accept when he noticed her looking at his bandaged arm. The smile on her lips faltered before coming back, and Michael shifted so the arm was hidden behind his skins. “Nah,” he told her casually. “Thanks anyway. I’m not allowed in town after dark anyway.”

”Oh yeah.” Disappointment filled her voice as she nodded. “Well, I hope you can have a good dinner tonight.”

”Thanks. You enjoy yours too.”

Fucking hell. That was why he tried not to talk to them. That woman was one of the nicer ones, but still. Even she was wary of him. Michael made sure to pull his skins over his bandaged arm, trying to hide it as he left town. He didn’t need people getting on him right now about it.

It sucked. Once upon a time, he had wanted to live within these walls. They were safe, protected. But his first time inside held distrust, hatred, and would have ended in death if Burnie hadn’t stepped in. He couldn’t give him a place to stay, but he could give him little jobs to do. Little things to help out with. And slowly, the people started to see him as less of a threat.

Still a fucking threat, though. His lips curled as he made his way through the plains. At least knowing Burnie had made things a little easier with other towns. Achievement City had hired him a few times because of him. Geoff was pretty great, though it was still down to the fact the people there feared him. Less, but he could still see them watching him and staring at his arm as he walked through the streets.

It was getting dark when Michael finally made it to his little shack. He lit a few torches around it and went in, sighing. It hadn’t been a bad day, all told. Made a little money. And he needed to save up. Slowly, he unwound his bandages, studying his arm. It wasn’t doing too badly, but he would need to keep an eye on it. He still had one potion left, anyway. He wouldn’t need to visit Lindsay anytime soon for a new set, so he could save his gold.

With those thoughts, Michael went to start dinner, his stomach rumbling from the day’s exertions.

* * *

Another day down. Not too bad of a day. Michael whistled as he made his way through the plains, the coin purse jingling at his side. Ten thousand gold. And all little jobs he could do quickly! More than enough to buy not just potions, but healing items. He would need those soon. His stock of herbs was growing low, and his garden just wasn’t producing anything.

He would probably need to go see Lindsay soon. His arm was starting to hurt, and that meant he would need to take a potion. And if that was the case, he would need to go visit her anyway. It would be a three days journey down there. It took about two to Achievement City, and then another to get to her place. Why she decided to live so far away from Achievement City when she worked so closely with them he would never know. But he would never ask anyway. So, down to Achievement City... the weather had been fair lately, so if started now, it should take six days to get there and back. If he got the full set of potions, he’d be set for about two months after that. Though, if it got cloudy, or worse, rainy... fuck. He better get started out there now. He didn’t know what he’d do if he got stuck without any potions.

As he lit the torches at his shack, he paused. What was he hearing? Was that... fuck. He drew his sword, looking around. That was the sound of someone fighting. This close, at this time of day.

Michael made his way towards the sound of fighting. He didn’t want to, but if there really were those fuckers that close to him, he needed to take them out. The light would only deter them so much if they had gotten that brave. As he got closer, he saw the glint of a sword flash, and a dark shape dissolve under the slice of the blade.

Fuck. Shades. They had gotten that close to him. Michael shifted his weight as a few turned towards him, his arm moving instinctively in a slash as one rushed him. The shade fell in a squeal as two more ran for him, reaching. One strike across hit both of them, and he turned to slam a boot into a third. More and more of the shades had become aware of him, leaving the other ignored as they tried to swarm him. But he had grown up fighting these fuckers, and he lopped what could possibly be the head off another as it jumped at him.

Then one lept on his back, driving him to his knees with surprising strength and weight. He grabbed it, tossing it as he struggled to his feet, but another grabbed him. Michael sliced its arm off, shifting the movement to bisect a shade that was reaching for him.

And then another fell in front of him, cut in two. One was kicked from behind him as the person that had originally been fighting them stopped it from pouncing on him, killing another. Michael cleaned up the final few, the last one dissolving as he turned towards the other person.

Tall, he noticed first. Male. If he wasn’t mistaken, he was wearing Achievement City colors: green and black. By the logo on pin on his collar... was he an Achievement Hunter? That would explain why he was halfway decent at actually fighting. He hadn’t seen this man before. He’d remember a handsome blond hair, blue eyes man in a kilt. “So,” Michael started, not yet sheathing his blade. They weren’t near light yet. “You’re pretty far from Achievement City.”

The man winced. “I hadn’t realized how late it was,” he told him, and wow. He had a nice voice. “Thank you, by the way.”

”I should charge you for the assist,” Michael told him. “But I’d rather know why you’re out here instead of around Achievement City like the rest of the Hunters.”

He shrugged. “Geoff - our leader - sent me out here. Now, I’ve never seen you before.” The man eyed him, taking in his skins and bare chest. “I would remember someone like you.”

”I know who Geoff is,” Michael told him. “I’ve done a few jobs for him. Name’s Michael.”

” _You’re_ Michael?” The man looked surprised. “After how Geoff talked about you, I expected someone... older.”

”Yeah, well,” he mumbled. “You going to keep stalling? It’s getting darker out here and that isn’t the only set of shades out here.”

The man looked around, then back at him. “Do you have a place to stay that has light?”

”Do you really think I’m taking a strange man who I don’t even know the name of back to my shack?”

”My name’s Ryan,” he said earnestly. “Now you know my name.”

Michael paused. Goddamn it, yeah, he did. He still didn’t want to take Ryan back there, though. So many things that could go wrong. At the same time, he wanted to know what the hell was going on. “Fine. This way.”

The walk back to his shack was very quiet and short. Both of them were on edge, waiting for more shades. When they saw the ring of light, both of them let out a sigh of relief. “”Come on in and make an explanation,” Michael offered as he opened the door.

Ryan laughed at that, ducking his head to enter. “It’s not much of one,” he told him as he sheathed his sword. “Geoff asked me to take something to Burnie. I got sidetracked talking to Ashley. It was later than I expected when I left.”

Michael hesitated, looking at Ryan. That would explain why he didn’t see him at all in Rooster Teeth City. He never had a reason to see Ashley. “That’s all? Seems kind of a stupid thing to be caught in the dark by. And where were you going so late?”

”Achievement Hunters have a place set up along the roads where we can stay when we travel,” Ryan started before Michael waved his hand.

”I know this. I use them whenever I need to go to Achievement City.”

Ryan shifted awkwardly. “Oh. Well, I was trying to make it to one of those.”

”You have to literally get started first thing in the morning to make it to one of those by nightfall. Is this your first mission outside of Achievement City or something?” At Ryan’s awkward silence, he laughed. “Holy shit, it is! You’ve never left Achievement City before!”

”I have!” he insisted. “I’ve just... never been to Rooster Teeth City. I didn’t realize it took this long.”

”Oh man.” Michael grinned as he took a seat. “So this is your first big trip and you nearly got killed. Geoff better pay me big time for saving your ass.”

Ryan looked at him curiously. “You’re going to Achievement City?”

He shrugged. “I have some business in the area. Might as well make it to town as well, right? And if I’m right, you don’t have any gold on you. So I’ll take your ass back to Achievement City, get Geoff to pay me, and continue on with my business.”

”I think I know now what Geoff was talking about,” Ryan commented. “You’d do anything for money.”

”Yup. What are you going to do about it? Go back out into the shade infested night?”

Ryan paused, looking outside and past the light. Then he turned back to Michael, eyeing him. “You drive a hard bargain.”

”Yup,” Michael repeated.

He sighed. “When are you leaving?”

”First thing in the morning. So get some rest!”


	2. Wilderblades

Ryan woke up fairly quickly. He had to, Michael figured as he tossed a bag at him. An Achievement Hunter wasn't a title given out to just anyone. As far as Michael knew, there were only four of them. They had people that worked with them (Lindsay being one of them), but not all of them held the position. Well, with Ryan, there were five of them, he considered wryly. Still not that many. Michael extinguished the torches and grabbed the last potion. He didn't need it now, and if took it when he didn't need it, he would regret it. That had happened before, and he had been very, very sick. Didn't need that now! So Michael just tucked it away, in case. Never knew.

"Okay, let's get this one the road!" he cheered as he closed the door behind him. The sun was rising in a cloudless sky, perfect. It was going to be a great day. Hopefully Ryan wouldn't want to be too chatty and he could get him to Achievement City and get his money quickly.

Ryan shouldered the bag swiftly as he followed. Quietly, Michael noticed happily. This would be a very easy job. No shades along the road, cloudless sky, quiet companion, yep. This would be good.

"I notice you keep your arm bandaged."

Couldn't fate have given him more than three seconds after that thought? Michael rolled his eyes, his hand flexing slightly. He hadn't been able to check on it last night with Ryan around. Most outsiders were afraid when they saw what lay under, and what it could mean. Most outsiders were chicken, but it didn't surprise him anymore. They knew what lay outside their walls. How many of their men and women had been killed by shades just trying to find something to eat? No wonder they were afraid of something different.

Still pissed him off that they were so afraid, but it made sense to him.

"Yeah, well." He shrugged. Not going to answer that. It wasn't worth an answer.

"It must be a terrible wound for you to keep it hidden all the time."

Oh fuck, he wanted to chat. Michael rubbed his forehead as the thought dawned on him in horror. "Don't fucking try to make small talk with me. This is a job. You to Achievement City, and Geoff pays me for returning one of his few Achievement Hunters to him. I don't need to know what your favorite color is or if you prefer cats to dogs. I don't care. You're going to be home in two days and I will probably only see you in passing again."

Ryan smiled a little. "I suppose you're right," he murmured. "It makes sense that you don't want to talk. Everyone's usually afraid to talk to you, aren't they?"

"Fuck, can you _shut up?_ "

He held up his hands, closing his mouth. No more words came out, but the ones he had said hung between them as they walked. Everyone was too afraid of him to talk. It was true, but that wasn't why he didn't want to talk. He didn't want to talk because it didn't matter. It just-

"It's not that they're afraid of me," he finally said gruffly. "Of course they're afraid of me. I don't want to talk because it's stupid. My arm's bandaged. So what? Why does it matter?" Michael reached up, pulling the animal skin over his shoulder to cover his arm. "All you need to know is it's bandaged."

"This is obviously a sore subject," Ryan said, blatantly backpedalling. "If you don't want to talk about it, I'll understand."

"Good, because I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to hear anything from you except important things like if something's about to attack us." Michael shifted his bag so it lay more comfortably as they walked, now in sullen silence. Why the hell did Ryan want to know about shit like that? Why the fuck did it matter? The skin fell back to it's usual spot, revealing his arm again, and Ryan didn't say a thing about it. Interesting that he didn't flinch, though. Just… was really fucking curious.

It was when the sun was high and hot when Michael stepped off the road, reaching for his pack. "It's not much, but I don't trust anything in the Achievement Hunters' outposts," he told him as he pulled out a package of jerky. "Who knows how long that's been there? So that's going to be your lunch and dinner for the next few days. Make it last."

That made Ryan laugh a little, his rich voice rolling. "I'll savor it," he promised, taking a bite. "Mm. Yummy."

Michael snickered a little, tearing into his own jerky. "We're about halfway there," he told him. "We're making pretty good time. Nothing's tried to attack us yet, so we might be able to make it a little before nightfall."

"That would be really nice," Ryan said enthusiastically, taking another bite and reaching for the canteen at his side. "Is the trip usually this clear?"

With a shrug, Michael said, "It depends on the weather. We got lucky with a good cloudless day. Not a lot of places for a shade to be. And all the roads are in open areas like this. If it was cloudy, or worse, raining, we'd be making worse time." And he had prepared for that - there was enough food in there to last double the amount of time it'd take to get there. But it looked like it would be easy. Wouldn't even need the potion he had taken with him. Good. Those fucking things were expensive.

"How often do you make this trip?" Was he asking more questions? Michael glared at Ryan as he just took another bite of jerky, looking innocent. "If you don't mind me asking."

"When I make it and I do mind." Michael took another vicious bite, grumbling. Fucking inquisitive assholes. "Why does it matter?"

"I just feel like I should know more about you." What. "Geoff talks a lot about you and what you do for us. But I feel like I know nothing about you."

"And let's keep it that way." There was a lot Ryan didn't need to know about him. If he knew, things would just be bad. And he had dealt with that before. No, he was just going to keep Ryan in the dark about it and keep going. "So, you done eating? Nah, who cares. Let's go."

Ryan stuffed the last of the jerky in his mouth as Michael started walking, following as he chewed, blissfully silent now that his mouth was too busy with dried meat. Wanting to know more about him, what the hell. Michael cupped a hand around his bandaged bicep, gritting his teeth. If he knew, he… Heh, he'd do what just about every other person did. So he wouldn't say a fucking thing.

Thankfully, silence reigned as they walked. Ryan seemed to have finally gotten the hint. He didn't want to talk about it. Just… it was just something he didn't want to talk about.

A chittering met his ears, and he tensed. No. Not those. Ryan looked at him curiously as he stopped. "We're going around," Michael growled.

"What are you-" Ryan started before a crash interrupted him, and the chittering came closer. His hand went to his sword, and Michael twitched. He could hear what he didn't want to hear under the rest, and he couldn't- Michael pulled his own sword free, his body tensing for their arrival.

To Ryan's credit, he did the same just as the shades ran in. Two immediately swarmed him, while three more jumped at Michael. He quickly blocked one of them and kicked another. The third grabbed his sword arm, and was shaken off as the first turned in a wide circle, the stolen bit of pipe in its hand coming for his head. Michael blocked the strike, then pressed forward with an attack, cutting the limb off. It stumbled back, leaving room for another to barrel into him. The rush knocked Michael back, staggering him until he caught his balance. A quick swipe took that shade's head, and he turned to cut the leg off the third trying to come up behind him. With a spin, he cleaved the first in two, then stabbed the last one in the chest, watching the blade fall deep into the mass of shadows called a body before pulling it back out and watching the shade fall, dissolving. When he turned to Ryan, he was doing the same, kicking the last shade away from him.

"That was-" Ryan started before tensing, hearing the high pitched chittering that Michael didn't want to hear. He reached out as Ryan turned, ready to attack the next wave.

"Leave the little ones alone," Michael told him in a low voice.

That made Ryan pause, look over at him in confusion. "Why the little ones? They can do as much damage as the larger shades. At times more because they can move faster."

"Just… don't." He couldn't explain it to him why. There was a reason, and a good one. But he couldn't explain it to Ryan without sounding insane. He wasn't going to try. Ryan just needed to listen to him.

Ryan stared at him for a moment, then put his sword away. Michael ignored him as he did the same, turning off the path. "Where are you going?"

"They're up ahead. If we go this way, we'll go around them."

"You're going through a lot of trouble for this," he commented as he followed Michael.

"You can shut up and follow me."

* * *

A small battle with shades during the course of the entire day wasn't that bad, Michael thought as he sighted the outpost. The sun was starting to go down, so they were making good time. He pulled out his firestarter and went to the torches, quickly lighting them as Ryan went in. When Michael followed, he saw that Ryan had done the same with the lamps. It was nicely lit inside the building, and would keep any unwanted shades away.

"We should sleep in shifts," Michael told him. "Shades won't come near us now, but there are still other monsters out there. I haven't seen that fucking boar in a while, for instance. So one of us should always be awake in case something goes wrong." He stretched, feeling the grime in every crease of his body as he did so. "Ugh. I'll take first watch tonight. First, though, I need that bathing room."

Ryan nodded. "Just as long as I can use it after you. This isn't exactly the easiest material to wear."

"Then why do you wear it?"

"Family tradition."

Michael considered the words as he slipped his animal skin off his shoulders and folded it. "Whatever. So I don't care what happens, don't follow me. If we're attacked, just yell really loudly." With that, he turned and left for the bathing room.

Once inside, Michael barred the door the best he could and started to unwind the bandages. He wouldn't be able to replace them like he wanted to, but he could at least check the status of his arm. The cloth fell away, and he stared at it. Well, it was definitely getting worse and he would need a potion at some point soon. Not now, and probably not any time while he was with Ryan, but he would probably need to take one before he got back to his shack. That would put him out for a day. Probably would need to get Ryan back to Achievement City, get his gold, buy the potions, then hole up while he took one and it did its magic. Michael sighed as he started to draw the water for the bath, more than ready to be clean again.

This trip couldn't be over fast enough.


	3. Antipurity

The next day didn't start as hopeful. While it was still cloudless and beautiful, there was a scent on the wind Michael did not like. He had planned in case something happened, but he still didn't want it to pass. Instead of mentioning it, he shrugged it off and turned to his companion-slash-job. "Ready to get going?"

Despite how annoying Ryan could be with all his questions, he was good at getting ready quickly and not wasting time. Though, it made sense if Michael thought about it. Ryan _was_ an Achievement Hunter. Those bastards had to be ready at a moment's notice. They were the town's elite guard, taking care of any monsters around Achievement City, from the shades to the rabid wildlife attacking them. It just made sense that Ryan would be able to get up and go at the word of a commander. So when he walked over to the door, shifting his belt to a more secure location as he nodded, Michael felt a slight twinge of happiness at this. "Ready."

"Awesome. Let's go." He started walking, casting a glance upward. No, he had been wrong. There were clouds, but they were so wispy and thin they didn't matter. But still… Michael shivered a little as he walked.

"Are you okay?" Of course Ryan would be concerned about that. Michael waved his hand wordlessly at him. Instead of following up on that, he went quiet for a moment. "I can see why Geoff hires you," he finally said. "You're a very accomplished fighter."

Michael groaned, head lolling back. "Are you talking?"

"Just praise! I didn't have time when we met to really take in how good you are with a sword. Yesterday, with the shades, I got to see it. I hadn't imagined you would be that good. You've had a lot of practice?"

"Yeah." Michael rubbed the back of his head. "I've been doing jobs and stuff for a while. Sometimes I'm asked to clear out an area of shades so people can work there. I've got to fight a lot of shades doing that. And I've been doing this for as long as I can remember."

Ryan fell quiet again. It was nice. But something was bugging Michael. It occurred to him as he was on watch. "How long have you been an Achievement Hunter?" he asked, turning slightly to Ryan.

"Asking me questions now?" he laughed. "Mm… a while now."

"That doesn't answer my question," Michael told him tartly.

"I can't really remember." Ryan shrugged. "Long enough that I've been given missions to Rooster Teeth City, I guess."

"And you've never been anywhere that took more than a day's journey before?" This was what stuck out to him. There were the Funhaus, a small tribe that traded with Rooster Teeth City. From what he knew, they also worked with Achievement City. And there was another small town that Rooster Teeth City had just gotten into an agreement with, though Michael didn't know the name of it yet. But both of those were more than a day's journey. Anyone that had to go outside of Achievement City to either place would have found that out. He should have known the day and night cycle and how it related to how long it took to get to the outposts.

Ryan shrugged. "I've had other things to do," was all he said.

"Like what? I can't imagine there being that many threats around Achievement City that requires a Hunter to be there at all times. Anyway, isn't that why they have a city guard? For all the little threats that come up that don't require a fucking Achievement Hunter or when you guys are all away?"

"Sometimes Hunters are asked to do things," Ryan asked, his voice turning dark. When Michael just looked at him, he laughed. "No, nothing like- I just mean I had various missions. That's all. And since we're asking questions, I've been wondering about yesterday."

Oh for fuck's- "What about yesterday?"

"You were pretty adamant about not killing the little ones," Ryan pointed out. "I don't really understand why. You're not exactly known for compassion towards shades. What made them special?"

The sound of their chittering came back to him, the high pitched innocent sound that made him take all his will to take Ryan's eye and keep it. "It's none of your business."

"It is, actually." Ryan kept his gaze as he stopped, his eyes steady and piercing. "If we're going to travel together, even for this little bit, I need to know you're trustworthy. That you won't stop fighting and leave me to die when those little shades come to swarm me."

Between those little ones and a human being… Michael wanted to squirm under the gaze. That wasn't an easy choice. Ryan was a human, and his job besides. But at the same time, he could hear the little ones chittering to themselves as they milled about, ignorant of what was going on. "You can trust me," he said finally.

Ryan didn't look away for a moment, then finally nodded. "I hope so," he told him.

* * *

It was the thick mass of shades that appeared on the road that made him realize how dark it had gotten. Michael stopped and tensed, looking up at the sky. He hadn't even noticed how cloudy it had gotten. And he couldn't tell, but he thought they might be getting worse. "Ryan."

"I see it." He pulled out his sword, standing next to Michael. "It'll take us forever to clear out those shades."

"We're going to have to." Michael did the same, looking over the crowd. No littles, good. He would easily slaughter them all and have fun with it. "We can't let them stay here, and we'd go too far off track to go around them."

"We're not going to make the next outpost," Ryan warned him.

"Do you really think I didn't plan in case something like this happened?" Michael shot him an unamused look, then shifted his stance. "They saw us. Get ready."

Ryan was doing so as he spoke, his sword arm moving as the first shade jumped at them. With a grin, Michael swung his sword in a wide arc, catching several shades as they rushed them. Their shadowed bodies stumbled back, wisps of darkness curling up from their wounds. Michael took two steps towards the incoming mob, the next swipe angled up to cut a shade in half. Another was kicked to his side, and he spun to slice two more open. Arms grabbed him, trying to drag him down as he easily shrugged them off, stabbing behind him into a swirling mass of shadows.

He couldn't see Ryan anymore, but he could hear the pain cries of the shades as he cut his own swath through the crowd. Good thing he didn't have to worry about him, and could focus on his own swarm. He swung quickly, taking the head of one and bisecting another.

Then one hit him, sending him stumbling.

Fuck. Another hit him, nearly driving him to his knees. Reflexively, he raised his bandaged arm, then hesitated. There was someone else here. And that meant someone that didn't know. Fuck, he… Michael grit his teeth, then shifted his sword arm, taking the limb of the next one that tried to hit him. He couldn't do it, not while Ryan was around. He wasn't afraid of him. Michael didn't want to give him a reason to be afraid.

Two more shades fell as Michael swung, then he took a step back, looking around. The crowd didn't seem to have thinned any. He stabbed another shade, tearing it into two and took the head of another as he frowned. The two of them had done quite a bit of damage. The mob should have gotten somewhat smaller. And then, as Michael watched, shadows coalesced into the distorted humanoid form of a shade.

Shit. It was too cloudy for this. More shades were growing as they were cutting them down. He couldn't do what he usually did with Ryan around. They needed the sun if they were going to do this! Michael made his way over to Ryan, lifting his voice over the cacophony from the shades. "They're regrouping as we're killing them!"

He heard Ryan curse as he sliced one in half. "We need to retreat," he yelled back, already making his way out of the crowd.

Michael was not going to argue. Maybe once he could ditch Ryan somewhere he'd come back and clear them out, but right now, they needed to retreat. He turned, starting to carve a path out to safety. Thankfully, they didn't seem to have gotten that many behind them, so it wasn't much more than a few well placed slices and timed kicks before he and Ryan were running across open ground for safer territory.

* * *

He had to come back with some kind of food. Thankfully, there had been goats on his way back from clearing out the shades his usual way. And when he got back, he saw Ryan tending dutifully to the fire. "Got some food."

"Great, I'm starving." Ryan searched through the nearby wood for a good spit, and finally found one to spear the meat with so they could cook it. "Took you quite a while to get just this little amount of meat."

Michael shrugged. "Had to go around the shades." And eliminate them with extreme prejudice in his own way. He flexed his bandaged arm once he handed the meat over, wanting to see how it looked under the wrapping and knowing it was a bad idea with Ryan around. "Let me know when that's done. I'm fucking exhausted. I'm going to lay down." Michael went for the makeshift tent he had set up with nearby logs and a tarp he carried in his pack at all times, curling up. Doing that took a lot out of him, and he was afraid he would need that potion possibly before he got to Lindsay. But it had to be done. They couldn't risk that mob finding them at night while the amount of light was that pitiful.

He watched Ryan as he shifted the meat around, letting the other side cook as well. The way the light caught his features really highlighted how handsome he was, Michael mused. And he really was quite intelligent. Maybe a little too intelligent. He was asking a lot of really probing questions, and Michael didn't want to know how much he had figured out just by asking that. Maybe not a lot. But he had a feeling Ryan was learning out more about Michael than he wanted the other man to know about him. And Michael didn't really know a lot about Ryan at the same time.

Ryan didn't know about the important things, though. And what did it matter? Ryan was going to be back in the arms of Geoff in a few days anyway. This whole thing added another day to the trip, but it wasn't too bad. Really, just get Ryan back to Achievement City, and everything would be fine.

Michael closed his eyes. Taking out all those shades had exhausted him. They better not have any more problems getting to Achievement City, because he wanted to get his money and his potions and get back home. Enough of this.

He dozed as the smell of cooking meat filled his nose, keeping him from fully falling asleep.


	4. Inquitus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, you like that NieR LP that I linked in the first chapter? You want to know about the Drakengard 3 DLC chapter I was talking about and want to see it by the same LPer? Well, [The Dark Id's LP](http://lparchive.org/Drakengard-3/) just hit the LP Archive, so go give it a read! And don't just focus on Two's DLC, because there's so much to see.

The first thing that tipped Michael off to a bad day was the pain in his arm. He had already pushed it too far by waiting a day. Taking all those shades out by himself had taken it one step further. He needed to check his arm, but he didn't dare. Not with Ryan around. Ryan might be a little different than most, actually inquisitive of him and not shying away, but he didn't even think twice about the idea of unwrapping the bandages and checking on his arm while someone else was around before discarding it. He knew what lie under it and what it meant. No, he would just need to get Ryan to Achievement City, and fast. It would just take longer for him to get back home, that's all.

But then he looked up at the sky, and saw the dark grey mass covering what should be light blue. Damn it. Michael packed away the tarp, cursing under his breath. They would have to make some good time today. That sky didn't bode well, and he could smell something wet on the air that was coming for them.

Ryan closed his packs, holding his hand out, palm up. "It looks like rain," he confirmed, worried.

"Nooooo shit."

"Do you think we should find some more permanent shelter and wait it out?" he asked. "We can't fight the amount of shades that come out when it rains."

Michael almost snorted because he had done that several times. But then again… his bandaged hand clenched. "If we get going now and don't stop, we can make it to Achievement City before the rain. We got pretty far before we had to stop for the night."

Ryan looked at him, and frowned. "I don't know what you're thinking, but I don't want you to risk your life," he told him gently. "Not for some stupid job like this. We can wait out the rain and make our way to Achievement City when it's safer."

The words made Michael pause, his mouth half open. He looked away, feeling his face heat up slightly. No one had really told him that before. Not that he shouldn't, not to risk his life. They usually just let him do his thing, and reaped the benefits. "And I want to get you there sooner rather than later," he finally snapped out. "So stop flapping your lips and let's get going."

It didn't even take them twenty minutes to find a knot of shades. Thankfully, it was manageable, a quick battle that barely stole Michael's breath at all. Ryan didn't even look like he had broken a sweat after they were done. The older man sheathed his sword, looking like he wanted to say something, but shaking his head as he continued on beside Michael.

The next gathering of shades took ten minutes to find, and Michael felt his arm throbbing after they were done mopping them up. It hadn't been hard, but there had been so many of them and he was doing too much. He needed to take his potion soon, or else. And that meant they needed to get to Achievement City sooner rather than later.

Then five. With a group that kept them busy for at least twenty minutes while they slaughtered every last one of them. Michael resisted the urge to grasp his arm as they walked, letting the pain fall into the back of his mind. Just get Ryan to Geoff. Just get his money. Potion could come after that.

Then Michael stopped as he looked down from the hill, seeing the dirt of the road utterly covered by black shadows. He needed to get Ryan to go somewhere else while he took care of this. With that though, he turned to him. "Look," he started before Ryan shook his head.

"I don't know what you're thinking, but no. We can't fight our way through that normally, and it's only getting darker."

"You need to trust me," Michael told him. "I do this kind of thing for a living. So let me go do what I do for a living and… I don't know, sharpen a sword or something. I'll come back for you."

A strong hand wrapped around his bandaged wrist, stopping him faster than anything else. "We need to get to cover," Ryan insisted. "We're not going to make it. And that's a lot of shades, Michael. You're just going to get yourself killed."

For a moment, all Michael could do was look down at the hand on his bandaged wrist. No one had touched him like that. And definitely no one had grabbed that wrist before. Not the one that almost shouted how different he was, how much of a threat he could be to someone. He flexed his hand, then broke Ryan's grasp. "Like I said, this is what I do for a living. Don't worry about it. Just go find a safe spot in case some stray shades come after you."

"Gods damn-" Ryan shut his mouth, frustration writ in every turn of his lips. "At least let me help!" 

He should have never had the idea of escorting an Achievement Hunter back to Achievement City. They get ideas. This was why he did jobs _for_ Geoff and never _with_ him. "Look, it'll be fine. Let me take care of it."

Ryan shook his head. "I'm not some priceless cargo you can just hide somewhere. I'm a living, thinking human being that can help you out. Let me help you."

"You really, really can't," Michael muttered, then cleared his throat. "Ryan. You just have to trust me."

"I do trust you. I also don't want you do be hurt."

Michael felt his breath stop at the quiet words. "It's the nature of what I do," he finally managed.

"It doesn't mean that you have to do it now. I'm an Achievement Hunter." Ryan smiled at him, the curl of lips lopsided as he spread his hands. "Getting into stupid situations and fighting my way out is part of my job. Let me do my job too."

Michael couldn't look at that stupid handsome face anymore. He wanted to explain to him why, but he wanted that sweet gold that would come from dumping this jerk off in Geoff's hands. All he had to really do was just get him to understand why he couldn't come and see what he was going to do. Michael opened his mouth, about ready to explain when a roll of thunder cut him off. "Fuck."

Both of them looked up nervously, then over at the shades. "We need to find cover," Ryan repeated his earlier statement, urgently.

Goddamn it. Maybe he could get Ryan to find some place to wait out the storm while he destroyed the shades. "Go find some," he snapped at him.

"You're going to take on the shades alone. Michael, what-" Ryan cut off as rain started to patter around them. "Michael."

It wasn't raining hard. But he could hear the thunder rolling in the distance, and the wind was starting to pick up. "Fine," he grit out, turning. "There's a ruin about twenty minutes away. Less if we run."

Ryan nodded, following Michael's lead as he started down the path slightly, then turned off it at the second tree and started running. He had seen these ruins before when clearing out a shade nest. Never went in, so he had no idea what awaited them here.

A few shades were in their way, but Michael and Ryan easily cut them down. By now, the rain was coming down hard enough that they were splashing through puddles as they ran, kicking up mud and rocks. And Michael could almost see where it fell harder as they came closer to the ruins, wind blowing the rain right into their eyes.

Finally, they reached the doors of the ruin, their shoes running over long broken glass as they entered. Michael and Ryan slowed, and halted, panting as puddles dripped down around them. It was Michael who first started walking around, moving carefully on the slick floor.

He had never seen anything like this. It was much bigger than he had ever expected. Michael looked around, running a hand through his sodden hair. It was impressive, huge, and he was just at the mouth of it. Something like this used to exist, used to be used by people daily. He couldn't be sure how, but it was.

Ryan came up beside him. "We're going to need something to burn," he told him. "My pack is completely soaked through, so anything I may have had is completely unusable."

Michael snapped out of his reverie and nodded. He understood. They needed a fire to keep the shades away and warm up. "Yeah. Um…" He looked around, seeing several little rooms nestled along the wall, many of them still bearing signs written in the old script over the doors or windows. "Let's check in there."

As they started in, Michael paused, tilting his head.

For a moment, he almost heard the chittering of shades deep inside the ruin over the sound of rain.


	5. Corroscience - Battlefield

"It's all fucking waterlogged," Michael growled, running a hand through his hair and pushing the sodden locks back. There wasn't much by the entrance anyway, and it didn't help much that the roof had collapsed over much of the little rooms near the front, leaving them exposed to the elements. "Can't be helped. We're going to have to go deeper into the ruin."

"We don't have much of a light," Ryan noted. "And it's starting to get dark."

Michael nibbled on his lower lip, mulling over those facts. He wasn't wrong. But- "We don't have any choice," he told him. "There's nothing here we can use for firewood. And I don't want to exactly be fucking overrun by shades while we wait this shit out. We're going to have to explore."

Ryan frowned as he considered this, then nodded. "I suppose you're right."

"Damn right I'm right." Michael rubbed his nose as he looked around. The ruin opened up a bit further in, revealing a domed top that somehow hadn't shattered over time. More little rooms dotted along the edge, dusty and mostly barren. There was a railing in the middle of it all, an opening showing there was more than one floor to this entire thing. And from below…

Fucking hell. They were so loud, he bet even Ryan could hear the fucking shades down there. Good thing was they seemed to stay down there as he didn't hear any more on the upper level. But he could still hear them down there, milling about and chattering to themselves. "Fuck," he muttered under his breath, backing away from the railing. "Well, we're not going down."

Ryan looked at him quizzically, then came over to the railing as well, looking down. He straightened abruptly, eyes narrowed. "That's one hell of a shade nest."

"As long as we stay up here, they shouldn't want to leave their dark little home." Michael flexed his bandaged hand, wishing he could use extreme force to make sure they didn't come up to the upper level. But he didn't want to scare Ryan off by doing so. He had a job to do. "Come on, I think I see some wood over here."

For a moment, Ryan followed him quietly. The two of them looked through one nearby room, crunching through the broken glass. The little tables left behind could be used quite easily if they just broke them apart. One of them was actually already falling apart, so Michael made his way over to it and grabbed the broken edge. Ryan helped him, pulling the table into scrapes of wood.

"You haven't been as acerbic lately."

Michael paused for a moment, looking over at Ryan. Where had that come from? "Just your imagination."

"Mm, maybe." When Michael turned to look over at Ryan, he saw a small smile lurking on his lips. "I rather like the nicer Michael," he told him. "The one that doesn't yell at me for talking, anyway."

That made Michael pause, his hands halfway through tearing a new piece of wood off as his mouth half opened before he shut it. "Don't get used to it," he muttered. "You're going back to Achievement City. So we're not going to be seeing each other for much longer."

"You don't think we might see each other again when Geoff has another job for you?"

That… didn't sound like a bad idea. He had already learned that Ryan wasn't horrible to have next to him in a fight. Michael shrugged, trying to ignore how his cheeks burned as he broke off another piece of wood. "Don't know. We'll see."

When Michael looked over at Ryan again, he was smiling to himself. Fucking asshole.

But even then, he couldn't think the words with too much heat.

* * *

"We're going to need more wood than this to keep a fire going all night."

"I know," Michael grumbled. "Just start the fire anyway. We need to warm up."

Ryan was already bending down by the pile, lighting the wood. When the flame finally caught, and warmth started to radiate from the pile, Michael sighed and sat down in front of it. Damn, that felt good. The crackle of the flame was almost hidden by the pinging of rain off the domed top, though it wasn't falling as hard as before. It shouldn't rain through the night, Michael reasoned. So that meant they would be going in the morning. And making it to Achievement City. Not a moment too soon.

"You doing okay?" Ryan asked him quietly as he sat down next to him, one leg bent at the knee so he could rest his arm on it.

Michael grunted. "I'm fine. Why?"

"You've been pretty out of it and slow. Like something's bothering you, or you're wounded."

And of course Ryan's still perceptive. "Just cold."

He was quiet for a moment, then Ryan moved closer, pressing up against him. Sharing body heat, Michael realized as he jolted. "You're pretty touchy towards someone that's usually a pariah," Michael muttered.

"You're not all that bad," Ryan told him. "Most of your prickly nature seems to come from the fact people _are_ afraid of you. I don't really see a reason to be. Afraid of you. You're mostly bark, not bite."

Michael grumbled a bit at that. "I can so bite."

That made Ryan laugh. "Maybe. But not as hard as most people think you can."

What could Michael say to that? He just pulled one leg up, bent at the knee to rest his arm across it as he watched the flame dance. For a while, they sat there in silence, enjoying the warmth from the flame and each other's bodies. Michael licked his lips, Ryan's presence next to him distracting. It was so weird having someone that didn't care be so close to him. Someone that has actually touched him. Someone that seemed to care about him. It was different, and weird, and distracting. He wanted Ryan to touch him again, to run his hand over his bandaged arm…

Bad idea. Michael stood suddenly, inhaling sharply. Nope. No need to keep thinking that. "I should probably go find some more wood."

"I'll go with you." Ryan stood as well, grabbing a piece of spare firewood. "We can look together."

"Probably a better idea that you stay here with the burning thing," Michael told him pointedly. "I'll be fine. All the shades are down there anyway."

"We don't know that," Ryan argued. "There could be stairs, or there could be a nest we didn't see. I should go with you."

Michael looked at him for a moment. No, he shouldn't, but Ryan was really making a good argument that he couldn't go against. But… Michael took a breath, opening his mouth- then stopped, turning as he heard the chittering of shades nearby.

Ryan must have heard it too, as Micheal heard the sound of him drawing his sword. "Damn," he whispered. "I knew it was too good for them all to stay down there."

"I could dream," Michael shot back at him, unsheathing his own sword. And shit, he could hear the high pitched sounds of little ones. With any hope, the meager light of the fire would scare them away. Little shades weren't usually brave ones. He held out his hand as Ryan started to move forward, shaking his head. "If they don't come near, don't attack them."

Ryan stared at him for a moment, then back at the darkness where the shades awaited. "Why?" he finally asked, his voice curious. "Do you hear or see something?"

"Just- do as I say, okay?" Michael's eyes darted around, trying to see what was there. He could hear something bigger. Something very, very nasty with the little ones. But he couldn't see it. With any luck, it would just pass them by. Nothing would come near. But they still had to be careful. There really was no predicting what exactly would happen. Michael shifted his stance, looking around, trying so hard to see what was around them.

A scrape was the only warning Michael got. He just managed to get his sword up as a sharpened piece of metal sliced through the darkness at him. And by the angle and the power of the swing- _fuck._ This was a big shade. One of the biggest he had seen yet. It came down at him again, forcing Michael to block. Fuck, and he couldn't see it at all! It was too dark out, and the little fire they had didn't give out enough light to show what it could be, or even to scare it off. Michael grit his teeth, ignoring Ryan as he took a step forward. He would have to use some special force to take care of this, even if it-

Pain radiated through his torso as he slid backwards. Dumbly, he looked down, only to see the piece of metal stuck through his gut. The shade yanked the metal back, chittering angrily as Michael fell to the ground, then stopped at the distressed sound of the little ones. Metal hit the ground, scraping as it walked away, meeting back up with it's littles as Michael laid there on the dirty ground, blood puddling under him.

"Michael!" Ryan knelt beside him, unbuckling Michael's pack to get at the wound. "Shit- I only have one health salve. Just- stay with me. It'll be okay. It'll-"

Michael's vision started to darken as Ryan spread the salve. His hands moved with purpose, then slowed, then stopped. "Michael? What- what's going on?"

And then it overtook him completely as his bandaged arm erupted in a mass of shadows, black script writing over his skin as his eyes reopened, everything behind the lids now an inky blackness. The shadows started to cover his entire skin as Michael sprang up on all fours, a soft chittering spilling from his lips.

All of it, coming from his bandaged arm.


	6. Nethernox

At first, nothing happened. It was all just shadows and darkness, blending into each other. Then, the voice started. That voice, the one that he had suppressed for so long, ever since he had known how to make it go away, whispered in his ear. Soft, so soft. Almost too soft, on the edge of understanding. But it was such a siren song, calling to him. Wanting more. It had always chittered at him, ever since that one day, that day darkness first took his eyesight and he pushed it back. Told it he was in charge, and bound up his arm so no one would see.

And now he couldn't ignore it any longer as his entire body crawled with shadow. Hands caressed the floor as he moved, eyes watching the figure in front of him. The voice chittered in his head, whispering about how this person was a threat. A hunter. He needed to protect himself. He needed to kill the threat.

One hand grabbed the nearby sword as he charged, a babble spilling from his lips. The charge was blocked, but that wasn't the only thing he could do. No, as he leapt back, circling, that wasn't the only thing. He had always been able to destroy things with more power than most should be able to. The shadows around his arm curled, then spilled out in red tendrils as they formed a red orb in front of him.

"Fuck!" The word spilt the air, sword coming up to block as the orb splashed against it and the metal disrupted the flow. "Come on, Michael. Whatever happened, don't- don't fall prey to it."

Why was he talking? A growling chitter filled his head as he moved, edging away from the fire. Why was he still…

No. No matter. He sprang again, sword meeting sword. Eyes widened as he pushed his opponent back, overpowering him. He needed to kill him, though. He needed to-

Kill? Was that even right?

"Michael." A begging note had entered his voice. "Don't. Everything will be okay. Don't do this. Come back to me. Don't-" His voice broke off, teeth snapping down around words he didn't want to say.

Who was this?

The voice in his head whispered gently to him in a language barely understood, telling him it didn't matter. He had seen him hurt his kind. It didn't matter who he was. He was a hunter. He was going to hurt him. So he should take him out first. But that didn't seem quite right. Something… something seemed off about that. What was it?

Pain erupted from his temple. He hadn't been paying attention, and it ended in a smack to his head. He stumbled back, shaking his head. No, this person wanted to hurt him. That was all that mattered. He lifted his bandaged arm, the shadows forming another orb to dash at him. This one was sliced at before he had block his own charge, grunting. An angry chitter spilled from his lips as he pushed the charge away, backing up slightly. He needed to take care of this. Kill-

Why did that sound so _wrong?_

"Don't make me hurt you." The words came out soft, begging. "Michael, please. I don't want to hurt you."

His hand was going slack. A soft growling chitter escaped his throat as he gripped the sword tighter, focusing on his bandaged arm again. He needed to take care of this right away.

But no orb formed.

"Michael. You can hear me, right? I don't want to hurt you."

Why did he not want to hurt him? Why did it sound so wrong to kill him?

"It'll be okay."

"Sssss…ssstttt…pppp." The sounds dragged out from his throat, different from the whispers in his ear. "Ssssss…"

"Michael." He could hear the other perk up, caution still in his voice. "You can still hear me, right?"

"Rrr…nnn…"

"Ryan, yes. Michael, everything is okay. Just… what do I need to do?"

What did he need to do? Ignoring the whispers, he thought for a moment, the memory of a woman with red hair handing him- The potion. His bag. The sword clattered to the ground as he dove for his bag, long unbuckled and forgotten in the blood puddle. Screams filled his ear, his mind as his hands gripped the vial-

Then dropped it as the screams lanced through his head, overtaking anything else. That thing, that potion. It would stop this. Make everything quiet again. No, it couldn't- He had to escape. Go to where it was dark, where he could-

"Is this what you need?" The potion was scooped up, held. "What is this thing… Okay. Just. Stay there."

No. Where was the sword? No, he didn't need that. He just needed his own- His head shook at that, trying to dislodge the cold whispers. No, he couldn't. He couldn't.

Suddenly, he was knocked on his back, weight pinning him down as a hand pinched his nose shut. He didn't think twice about it, just opened his mouth in a gasp, only for the liquid of the potion to be tipped into his mouth. He tried to spit it out, but the hand on his nose moved and clamped around his mouth, forcing it shut until he swallowed reflexively. Then-

Pain. Pain, everywhere. Whimpering, he clawed at the hand on his mouth as fire burned lines through his veins. It hurt so much as the chittering dampened to a dull roar that could be ignored. Slowly, weakly, Michael dropped his hands to the ground as he stared up at Ryan.

Ryan took his hand away slowly, eyes wide. "Was that it?"

"Mm." Michael nodded a little, closing his eyes as pain continued to race through his body, suppressing the shade within. His fingers clumsily bumped into the wound on his stomach, feeling the way it oozed blood, half healed from the healing salve Ryan had smeared on him. But…

Right now, he was just going to lie there and wait for everything to stop hurting. Wait for Ryan to get up, to realize what he was and get his sword.

Wait, for Ryan to kill Michael.


	7. Voidscape

Ryan didn't really waste much time. Once it was obvious Michael wasn't getting up, he stepped over to him. Of course. There really wasn't much Michael could do. He could try to block the attack, but fuck if the potion made him weak. And he was still dealing with the stab wound. But- his hand groped for his sword, trying to find it as Ryan came near.

Then there was the sound of a sword being sheathed before Ryan knelt before him, pulling out a Medicinal Herb. "I don't have any more Health Salves," he told him quietly as he started to pluck off a few leaves. "This will heal you, but slower. Don't try to move."

"Heh." Michael let out a soft laugh as Ryan held one leaf to his lips, looking up at him. He opened his mouth, taking the bitter herb in and chewed thoughtfully on it, feeling the tingle run through his lips and down his neck. "You're weird," he told him, lifting an eyebrow. "Most people would have killed me once they saw that little display."

Ryan paused, holding another leaf. "You have to have your reasons," he told him. "For not telling anyone."

"Mm." Michael swallowed and started to sit up, only to stop when Ryan pressed a hand against his shoulder. "What?"

"You were stabbed, Michael. I don't care what kind of… otherness you have, that's still something you have to worry about. Lay back down and let your body recover."

"You can say it," Michael grumbled, laying back down. "I'm part shade." The words oozed from his mouth, not quite wanting to come out. "So yeah, go ahead and hate me for it. You're an Achievement Hunter, right? You'd be in the right to try and kill me for that shit."

Maybe it was just the shadows of the fire, but Ryan's face seemed to darken at the words. "I'm not going to try to kill you," he told him. "I'd like to know what's going on and what you mean by that, but I'm not going to kill you for it."

"I told you what's going on. I'm part shade." Michael rubbed his bandaged arm, looking away. "Or shade possessed, whatever."

Ryan didn't answer that right away, only held out another leaf for him to chew on. "Do you go berserk like that a lot?" he finally asked, his voice quiet and neutral.

Shaking his head, Michael swallowed the most recent leaf and took the next one. "I'm not usually hurt like that," he told him. "That orb you saw- some shades can do magic. Apparently the shade I am is one of those. So I use it to clear out big waves of those fuckers without getting touched."

"Like how you were able to clear a path for us before," Ryan murmured, obviously to himself.

"Yeah." Hey, if he said it loud enough for Michael to hear, he was going to respond to it. "Keeps me from getting hurt."

Ryan rolled the last leaf in his fingers a few times as he thought. "That's what you were going to do when you tried to make me go away," he finally said. "I see. You didn't want me to see it."

"Most people are pretty scared when they see something like that. What kind of shit is that? Most people can't do it. So I don't show it off for people."

"Mm." Ryan fed him the last leaf, then turned back to his pack. "I don't have a lot of water," he told him, voice quiet as he pulled out a bit of rag. "So I don't think I can clean your wound very well. But I can clean it enough to see how well the Medicinal Herb healed it."

Michael blinked. What? Why the hell was Ryan actually leaning over and wiping the blood away from his stomach? "You don't have to do that."

"Someone has to make sure you're healing okay, and you're still hurt." Fuck, Ryan's hands were so gentle. Michael's stomach twitched at each soft touch as he looked away, biting his lip. "It looks like the wound has stopped bleeding, at least. It still looks a little raw. I have some bandages in my pack, so I can wrap that up. Does this hurt?"

He grunted, still not looking at him. "No worse than being stabbed."

Instantly, Ryan's hands grew even more gentle, his movements soft and slow. "Is that better?"

"You don't have to treat me like glass. I get hurt sometimes. It's part of life." Michael turned his head back to Ryan, smirking at him. "Day we met, I had been kicked in the ribs by a sheep. Things happen."

"I'm glad you didn't get broken ribs from that," Ryan told him as he finished up, reaching back into his pack. "Most people would. Is… being part shade giving you extra healing?"

Huh. He had never thought about that before. "Maybe. It does seem like I heal pretty damn well. So maybe it's that."

"Handy." Ryan carefully helped him sit up, and started to wind a strip of bandage around his torso. "Sounds like you have a lot of the perks from it."

"Yeah, well." Michael moved his bandaged arm. "This damn thing is pretty much a shade's arm and lets me know when I'm going too shade. And when that happens, I get that little chittering in my head that starts saying all kinds of nasty things about humans. Not really a perk there. I have to keep on top of that and take that potion."

Ryan's hands didn't falter as he spoke. "I recognized the symbol on the bottle. Lindsay?"

"You know any other potion makers around here?" Michael grunted as Ryan pulled the bandage a little tight around him, then bit his lip as he relaxed it slightly. "Yeah. Lindsay. It's worked."

For a bit, Ryan didn't ask any more questions. His hands only carefully wrapped the linen around him, then tied it off. "You should rest for a bit," he told him. "I'll tend to the fire and watch to see if any more shades are coming."

Any other time, Michael would have told him that he would take second watch. But right now… "I'm not going to be able to stay away until morning," he warned him as he laid back down. "Maybe even well into afternoon. The potion knocks me on my ass."

"We have time. I don't have to get back until my mission's over."

"And what's your mission?" Michael asked him, voice nowhere near as acerbic as it could be.

Instead of answering, Ryan reached out and gently ran a hand through Michael's hair. When he pulled it away, Michael found himself leaning towards it, wanting more. Wanting more of that soft, nice, gentle touch… "Sleep. I'll tell you later."

Michael snorted, but closed his eyes. He didn't even hear Ryan get up before he was asleep.


End file.
